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EDITOR’ S NOTE
Women in automotive strategy and design
August was Women’ s Month in South Africa. There’ s a lot of poignant messaging that happens each year during Women’ s Month, but what is the position and career pathway for women in the automotive industry?
Globally, women are driving some of the most exciting brands and projects in the automotive industry. But they aren’ t often championed for their role. BYD is unquestionably the most impressive Chinese car company, with production-car technologies that are genuinely a decade ahead of American and European rivals. BYD’ s executive vice president? That would be Stella Li.
In motorsport, women have become some of the most influential race strategists. There is no more punishing real-world data and decisionmaking environment than modern F1 racing. And here, women engineers have proved that they make superior decisions under pressure.
Max Verstappen’ s 2022 and 2023 World Championships were directed by Hannah Schmitz, as Head of Race Strategy for Red Bull Racing. She joined the team as a student intern in 2009 while working on her master’ s degree in mechanical engineering. Hannah grew into a key mastermind behind multiple World Championships.
It’ s not only in F1 racing, either. Some motorsport followers would argue that 24-hour endurance racing is even more punishing and strategic than F1. And in the defining 24-hour race, Le Mans, women race engineers have also proven that they know what it takes to reduce risk, preserve mechanical integrity, and deliver wins in the most arduous format of racing.
Audi’ s dominance at Le Mans during the early 2010s was a defining period for the brand. British race engineer Leena Gade made much of that Audi success possible, becoming the first woman to win at Le Mans as a chief race engineer. She achieved three overall victories at Le Mans with Audi Sport Team Joest in 2011, 2012, and 2014, guiding drivers Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer, and Benoît Tréluyer to legendary endurance success.
Beyond motorsport, women fulfil a crucial role in automotive design. Some of the greatest cabin architectures and interior design trims have been the work of women.
South Africa’ s Oona Scheepers, drawing inspiration from her childhood in the Karoo, redefined Audi and Porsche interiors throughout the early 2000s, making them the best in class. Scheepers journeyed from a farm upbringing through graphic design in Cape Town to finally
becoming head of Design Colour and Trim at Volkswagen AG.
Lance
SEPTEMBER 2026 1 WORDS IN ACTION